Kana are the syllabaries that form parts of the Japanese writing system, contrasted with the logographic Chinese characters known in Japan as kanji. The modern Japanese writing system makes use of two syllabaries: cursivehiragana and angular katakana. Classified as kana is the ancient syllabic use of kanji known as man'yōgana, ancestral to both hiragana and katakana. Hentaigana are historical variants of modern standard hiragana. In modern Japanese and katakana have directly corresponding sets of characters representing the same series of sounds. Katakana, with a few additions, are used to write Ainu. Taiwanese kana were used in Taiwanese Hokkien as glosses for Chinese characters in Taiwan under Japanese rule; each kana character corresponds to one sound in the Japanese language. Apart from the five vowels, this is always CV, such as ka, ki, etc. or V, such as a, i, etc. with the sole exception of the C grapheme for nasalcodasromanised as n. This structure has led some scholars to label the system moraic instead of syllabic, because it requires the combination of two syllabograms to represent a CVC syllable with coda, a CVV syllable with complex nucleus, or a CCV syllable with complex onset.

Due to the limited number of phonemes in Japanese, as well as the rigid syllable structure, the kana system is a accurate representation of spoken Japanese. The following table reads, in gojūon order, as a, i, u, e, o ka, ki, ku, ke, ko, so on. N appears on its own at the end. Asterisks mark unused combinations. There are presently no kana for ye, yi or wu, as corresponding syllables do not occur natively in modern Japanese; the sound is believed to have existed in pre-Classical Japanese before the advent of kana, can be represented by the man'yōgana kanji 江. There was an archaic Hiragana derived from the man'yōgana ye kanji 江, encoded into Unicode at code point U+1B001, but it is not supported, it is believed that e and ye become both pronounced as ye, that the pronunciation e surpassed ye during the Edo period. A hiragana we, ゑ, which came to be pronounced as, as demonstrated by 17th century-era European sources, still exists but is considered archaic, it was eliminated from official orthography in 1946.

In modern orthography, if necessary, may be written as いぇ. The modern Katakana e, エ, derives from the man'yōgana 江 pronounced ye; some gojūon tables published during the 19th century list additional Katakana in the ye, wu and yi positions. These are not presently used, the latter two sounds never existed in Japanese, they do not presently exist in Unicode. These sources list in the Hiragana yi position, in the ye position. While no longer part of standard Japanese orthography, wi and we are sometimes used stylistically, as in ウヰスキー for whisky and ヱビス or ゑびす for Japanese kamiEbisu, Yebisu, a brand of beer named after Ebisu. Hiragana wi and we are still used in certain Okinawan scripts, while katakana wi and we are still used in Ainu. wo is preserved only in a single use, as a grammatical particle written in hiragana. Si, ti, tu, hu, wi, we and wo are romanized as shi, tsu, fu, i, e and o instead, according to contemporary pronunciation. Syllables beginning with the voiced consonants, are spelled with kana from the corresponding unvoiced columns and the voicing mark, dakuten.

Syllables beginning with are spelled with kana from the h column and the half-voicing mark, handakuten. Note that the か゚, カ゚ and remaining entries in the rightmost column, though they exist, are not used in standard Japanese orthography. Zi, di, du are transcribed into English as ji, ji, zu instead according to contemporary pronunciation. Are represented by バ, ビ, ブ, ベ, ボ, for example, in loanwords such as バイオリン, but the distinction can be preserved by using ヴァ, ヴィ, ヴ, ヴェ, ヴォ. Note that ヴ did not have a JIS-encoded Hiragana form until JIS X 0213, meaning that many Shift JIS flavours can only represent it as a katakana, although Unicode supports both. Syllables beginning with palatalized consonants are spelled with one of the seven consonantal kana from the i row followed by small ya, yu or yo; these digraphs are called yōon. There are no digraphs for w columns; the digraphs are transcribed with three letters, leaving out the i: CyV. For example, きゃ is transcribed as kya. si+y* and ti+y* are transcribed sh* and ch* instead of sy* and ty*.

For example, しゃ is transcribed as sha. In earlier Japanese, digraphs could be formed with w-kana. Although obsolete in modern Japanese, the digraphs くゎ and くゐ/くうぃ, are still used in certain Okinawan orthographies. In addition, the kana え can be used in Okinawan to form the digraph くぇ, which represents the /kʷe/ sound. Note that the き゚ゃ, き゚ゅ and remaining entries in the rightmost column, though they exist, are not used in standard Japanese orthography. Jya and jyo are transcribed into English as ja, ju, jo instead, respect

The exact ethnic or national origin of Christopher Columbus has been a source of speculation since the 19th century. The general consensus among historians is that Columbus's family was from the coastal region of Liguria, that he spent his boyhood and early youth in the Republic of Genoa, in Genoa, in Vico Diritto, that he subsequently lived in Savona, where his father Domenico moved in 1470. Much of this evidence derives from data concerning Columbus's immediate family connections in Genoa and opinions voiced by contemporaries concerning his Genoese origins, which few dispute. In a 1498 deed of primogeniture, Columbus writes: Siendo yo nacido en Genova... de ella salí y en ella naci... Many historians, including a distinguished Spanish scholar, affirm the document's authenticity; some believe that the fact that it was produced in court, during a lawsuit among the heirs of Columbus, in 1578, does not strengthen the case for its being genuine. A letter from Columbus, dated 2 April 1502, to the Bank of Saint George, the oldest and most reputable of Genoa's financial institutions, begins with the words: Bien que el coerpo ande aca el coracon esta ali de continuo...

Although a few people consider this letter suspect, the vast majority of scholars believe it genuine. The most scrupulous examination by graphologists testifies in favour of authenticity; the letter is one of a group of documents entrusted by Columbus to a Genoese friend, after the bitter experiences of his third voyage, before setting out on his fourth. In the spring of 1502, Columbus collected notarized copies of all the writings concerned with his rights to the discovery of new lands, he sent these documents to Nicolò Oderico, ambassador of the Republic of Genoa. To this same Oderico he handed over the letter to the Bank of Saint George, in which he announced that he was leaving the bank one-tenth of his income, with a recommendation for his son Diego. Oderico returned to Genoa and delivered the letter to the bank, which replied, on 8 December 1502 lauding the gesture of their "renowned fellow-citizen" towards his "native land"; the reply never reached its destination. The first letter was preserved in the archives of the Bank of Saint George until it was taken over by the municipality of Genoa.

After the fall of the Republic, they passed to the library of one of its last senators, Michele Cambiaso, were acquired by the city of Genoa. There are public and notarial acts — copies of which are conserved in the archives of Genoa and Savona — regarding Columbus's father, Columbus himself, his grandfather, his relatives. Another doubt remains to be settled: can we be sure that all of the documents cited concern the Christopher Columbus, to become Cristóbal Colón, admiral of the Ocean Sea in Spanish territory? The list of contemporary ambassadors and historians unanimous in the belief that Columbus was Genoese could suffice as proof, but there is something more: a document dated 22 September 1470 in which the criminal judge convicts Domenico Colombo; the conviction is tied to the debt of Domenico — together with his son Christopher — toward a certain Girolamo del Porto. In the will dictated by Admiral Christopher Columbus in Valladolid before he died, the authentic and indisputable document which we have today, the dying navigator remembers this old debt, which had evidently not been paid.

There is, in addition, the act drawn in Genoa on 25 August 1479 by Girolamo Ventimiglia. This act is known as the Assereto document, after the scholar who found it in the State Archives in Genoa in 1904, it involves a lawsuit over a sugar transaction on the Atlantic island Madeira. In it, young Christopher swore that he was a 27-year-old Genoese citizen resident in Portugal and had been hired to represent the Genoese merchants in that transaction. Here was proof, it is important to bear in mind that at the time when Assereto traced the document, it would have been impossible to make an acceptable facsimile. Nowadays, with modern chemical processes, a document can be "manufactured", made to look centuries old if need be, with such skill that it may be difficult to prove it is a fake. In 1960, this was still impossible. In addition to the two documents cited, there are others that confirm the identification of the GenoeseChristopher Columbus, son of Domenico, with the admiral of Spain. An act dated 11 October 1496 says: Giovanni Colombo of Quinto, Matteo Colombo and Amighetto Colombo, brothers of the late Antonio, in full understanding and knowledge that said Giovanni must go to Spain to see M. Christopher Columbus, Admiral of the King of Spain, that any expenses that said Giovanni must make in order to see said M. Christopher must be paid by all three of the aforementioned brothers, each one to pay a third... and to this they hereby agree.

In a fourth notarial act, drawn in Savona on 8 April 1500, Sebastiano Cuneo, heir by half to his father Corrado, requested that Christopher and Giacomo, the sons and heirs of Domenico Colombo, be summoned to court and sentenced to pay the price for two lands located in Legine. This document confirms Christoforo and Diego's absence from the Republic of Genoa with these exact words: "dicti conventi sunt absentes ultra Pisas et Niciam."A fifth notarial act, drawn in Savona on 26 January 1501, is more explicit. A group of Genoese citizens, under oath and say, together and separately and in every mo

Marina is a Spanish-languagetelenovela that aired on United States-based television network Telemundo. It premièred on October 16, 2006; the final original episode aired on Thursday, June 28, 2007. Sandra Echeverría, in her first major role, plays the title character. Aylín Mújica plays twin sisters and Verónica Saldivar. Mauricio Ochmann appears as Ricardo in early episodes before being replaced by Manolo Cardona. Telemundo's slogan in English-language ads for the show was "The heat of Acapulco, the passion of a woman." As with most of its other soap operas, the network broadcast English subtitles as closed captions on CC3. Marina was produced by ArgosMexico. During the show's last month, June 28, 2007, Marina's time slot averaged 577,000 core adult viewers, an 18 percent increase over the year before, when Tierra de Pasiones aired during that hour, according to Nielsen Media Research. Set in Acapulco, this love story features Marina, a beautiful, sweet young woman who makes a living driving a tourist boat.

Her simple life transforms when her mother dies unexpectedly and she inherits a large family fortune. Marina moves into an elegant mansion owned by the wealthy Alarcón Morales family, who treat her with evil and rejection; this humble girl is abruptly immersed into a world of rich, superficial people, who live lives of luxury and vengeance. She finds love with the man she least expects: a handsome man. Marina is a beautiful girl, neglected by her rich father who loses her mother and her house, her uncle, madly in love with her mother and always took care of Marina from afar, promises her mother on her death bed that he will watch over Marina. When Marina moves to her uncle's mansion, she meets her future husband Ricardo, unhappily married to Adriana. Adriana is having an affair including Ricardo's best friend, Julio, she hates Marina. Julio and Adriana plot to kill Marina. Adriana is asked to leave the mansion by Marina's uncle. Instead she tries to kill Ricardo, but when that fails, she runs out of the house and is killed in a horrible car accident.

Before she dies, she confesses to Ricardo about all of the affairs she had and admits that the baby she was expecting was Julio's and not his. This news leaves Ricardo insecure. Ricardo and Marina marry. Two months Marina and Ricardo return from their honeymoon. Ricardo leaves her because he thinks she is unfaithful, which in reality is a scheme his mother devised, she becomes pregnant during their honeymoon but when she leaves her house to attend her baby shower, Julio returns and scares her. She gives birth, she is in a state of shock and when she is released from the hospital she feels lost and confused. Her baby is taken by Julio, wearing a mask, to a dumpster where a woman finds the baby and takes him home. Ricardo takes Marina back, despite her instability. Ricardo tries to give Marina an adopted baby girl; as the time passes Mariana still thinks about her son. Ricardo, is starting to get tired of Marina's depression and he is starting to seek affection in Sara. Sara is the maid at Marina's uncle's mansion.

Sara and Ricardo have an affair. Ricardo's daughter spots them kissing and tells Marina. Ricardo's mother sees them, Marina does as well. Ricardo and Mariana stay together. Years Sara and Julio fall in love themselves, they get Marina and Ricardo's long lost child to rob the mansion but Marina's intuition tells her that the boy is her son. She finds out that the boy is indeed her son. Ricardo's mother thinks that Marina is cheating on Ricardo with their son and it leads to a divorce between Ricardo and Marina. After a lot of difficulty, Ricardo believes that Chuy is his son; however Marina does not return to him. After many unfortunate events, Marina ends up in jail. Patty gets sick and is rushed off to Houston by her biological mother and she gets better, her biological mother refuses to let her return to Acapulco as she is afraid she will lose Patty, but she returns to Acapulco. Jorge Luis Vasquez.... Elias - half brother of Marina, brother of Ricardo Matilde's husband, Bruno's father Karina Mora....